Rhetoric

The accusation that Iraq has used chemical weapons against its own citizens - Iraqi Kurds at the town of Halabja - is a familiar part of the debate over whether to go to war. According to a controversial article by Stephen C. Pelletiere, however, the facts surrounding that claim have been selectively presented and distorted.

As it prepares for war with Iraq, the new White House Office of Global Communications (OGC) is "revving up a global effort to defuse its image as arrogant and overbearing," reports Randall Mikkelsen. The State Department is creating an Islamic media center in London to manage U.S. communications with the al Jazeera satellite television network. The OGC is also organizing "daily telephone conference calls to coordinate foreign policy messages among U.S. government agencies and representatives of British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"Two former government scientists who
spent years investigating stress in dolphin populations
charged this week that superiors at their federally
financed laboratory shut down their research because it
clashed with policy goals of the Clinton and Bush
administrations. The scientists ... said their research indicated that the practice of chasing and encircling dolphins to catch tuna exposed the
dolphins to dangerous amounts of stress. The accusations, by Dr. Albert Myrick, a wildlife
biologist, and Dr. Sarka Southern, a research associate,

"The expressions of concern about the nation's safety by Mr.
Bush's prospective challengers, voiced in interviews,
speeches and television appearances over the last three
weeks, suggest that the focus of the Democratic White House
candidates in 2004 will go well beyond the traditional
Democratic fare of education, the economy, jobs and health
care. While so far the criticisms lack many specifics beyond
asking for more money for police agencies or the creation
of an additional intelligence force, campaign aides said